With Family
by 123writer
Summary: Thanksgiving on Seaquest. It's a cute one shot. Some Nathan/Kristen hinting. Some Lucas has crappy parents hinting. NOT AN ELF. I'm not an ELF fan. I don't mind hurting the boy but not without good reason. It is Lucas centric but, he is actually not in here all that much out side of being mentioned by the others.


Well in honor of Thanksgiving, I've decided to write a Thanksgiving one shot. This may end up a little long and I warn you now, I have not given this to Darkin who has graciously agreed to beta my other story (thanks much). I wanted to post this for Thanksgiving and the idea struck me today so, here we go.

Lt. J.G. Tim O'niell swallowed hard and let out a sigh as he made the requested connection. With only an hour left before the entire boat would be empty, he knew he had just delivered heart breaking news to one of his friends. 'Abandoned again', he thought, 'How could they do that to him again?' The normally calm and quiet communications officer felt his anger rise as his face began to turn red. He decided for once, he had to do something. The quietness of the bridge was made all the more apparent as Tim spoke louder than he intended but, at that moment he didn't honestly care.

"Commander Ford!"

"Tim?", The dark skinned man looked concerned at the sudden outburst, "Is there a problem?"

"I – I need to leave, sir. It's important."

The odd tone and strange request caught the attention of one Sensory Chief and best friend of the normally quiet communications officer.

"You okay Tim?", Miguel Ortiz interrupted as he walked over to the pair ignoring any military protocol about interrupting senior officers out of concern for his friend.

"No.", Tim replied as he gestured towards the vid-screen at his station pressing the corresponding keys to replay the last communication.

Both men watched in silent disbelief. Half was through the rambling apology Jonathan Ford clinched his teeth as Miguel Ortiz just stood there looking like he would pounce the next thing that moved in front of him. As the communication ended Jonathon was the first to speak.

"You have a plan I assume, Lt. O'niell?"

"Yes sir, I think I do, at least I hope so. I just need to find Krieg."

"Well, whatever the plan is I'm in.", added the Cuban.

"Me too." Commander Ford nodded, "Both of you get out of here, dismissed."

As the two men turned and jogged through the clam doors it caught the attention of Lt. Commander Katherine Hitchcock who was just picking up her head set and handing off her station.

"Anything you want to tell me, Jonathan?"

"No, we've got it covered."

"What exactly do you have covered?"

"Don't worry about it, Katie, as of 3 minutes ago you are on leave.", Jonathon smiled patting Katie on the shoulder before walking away.

Lucas Wolenzak sat on his bunk slowly kicking his already packed duffle bag on the floor of his quarters. "Figures.", he admonished himself, "Thirty minutes before I'm supposed to leave, he cancels. I should have known better." The blonde teenager fought back the tears that threatened his blue eyes as he recalled the pre-recorded message.

_"I'm sorry Lucas. I know I promised to spend Thanksgiving with you this year. If I could get someone else to handle it you know I would. I know you must be disappointed and I am very sorry. You know how important my work is. It's not something I can just walk away from but, it will be over soon and I would like you to come and stay with me during your time after Seaquest finishes it's tour. I did let your mother know you would not be staying with me and she let me know she's out of the country at the moment and can't take you either. I was thinking maybe you could spend a nice holiday with Captain Bridger or that nice doctor you're always mentioning in your emails. I am sure that either would be happy to have you. I am sorry Lucas and I will make this up to you son."_

The teenager knew both the Captain and Dr. Westphalen would allow him to spend the holiday with them however the message from his father came a little too late. They had both left earlier in the day actually planning to spend the holiday together on Bridger's island. Lucas was happy for the captain. He enjoyed seeing Dr. Westphalen and Captain Bridger together and they made up his family on Seaquest which wasn't blood but it was far less dysfunctional than the teen's actual family. Lucas briefly considered calling the captain. He knew that if he called Bridger and told him what had happened Nathan would immediately demand that Lucas join them at his island. He put aside that thought when he heard someone enter his room. Lucas looked up to see Lt. Benjamin Krieg entering his room grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"What do you want?", Lucas glared wearily at his friend.

"Hey, kid. I actually came to ask you to do me a favor."

"No, Ben. I don't want any part of what ever you've got cooked up. You're probably trying to sell turkeys to starving kids or something."

"Ouch, that hurts kid.", Ben said trying to put a look of pain on his face through his smile.

"I'm kinda busy Ben, what do you want?", Lucas said again wanting his friend to just leave him alone.

"Like I said kid, I came to ask you a favor. I wanted to know if you thought you could ditch your old man for the shoreleave?"

"What? Why Ben? What are you up to?". Lucas asked raising an eyebrow at his friends grin.

"Come on kid, it's no secret you and your old man don't exactly see eye to eye and, I happen to have two tickets to the Dolphin's game tomorrow.", Ben could see the excitement in his young friends eyes but was suddenly taken aback by his question.

"Why take me?"

"Why not? I like you and I got the tickets for Katie thinking.. well you know our first date was to a Dolphin's game and I thought well.. that doesn't matter. What matters is I have two tickets and I'd like you to come. So you in Luke or what?"

"Sure.", Lucas said trying to hold back his excitement.

"Good come on Kid, I think I have a jersey you should fit."

Lucas exited his room with Ben's arm around his shoulder explaining to him that a few other crew members were going to be staying on the boat because of some UEO mistake that had caused all there flight information to be lost. It was a lie but, it was a believable one. The UEO was well known for lost travel plans amongst it's crewmen. Lucas never even noticed as Ben gave a quick thumbs up as they walked past Miguel Ortiz and Tim O'neill in the hall.

Lt. Commander Katherine Hitchcock angrily hurled her bag on to her shoulder and headed towards the exit. She was glad to be getting off Seaquest in time to catch the last flight home to Seattle. It wasn't her original plan for the holiday but she was grateful her ex-husband had at least found her a flight home after cancelling what every surprised he swore he had planned for Thanksgiving. Katie felt foolish for buying in to it but, he had begged and pleaded for an entire month for her to give him a chance. She should have known better. As she hurried down the corridors quietly admonishing herself for her foolishness she accidently knocked over Miguel Ortiz as he carried several bags of groceries to the galley.

"Oh Migs, I am so sorry." Katie bent down to pick up some of the groceries as Miguel stood up again.

"It's okay, where are you off to in such a hurry. I thought you were staying aboard this time?"

"No, well yes, well I was going to stay but well, you see Ben spent a month begging me to spend Thanksgiving with him promised me he'd planned something really special but, at the last second he cancelled and, if I want to catch my flight home I need to hurry."

"Oh.. uh… oh no, the tickets must have been… Katie.. you need to come with me. You don't understand." Miguel stated as he shoved two grocery bags into Katie's arms.

"What's there to understand? Ben always does this kind of thing. I just want to spend Thanksgiving with my family."

"No, we need to talk. Come on."

"Ortiz, I'm going to miss my flight."

"Trust me.", Miguel said taking Katie's arm as he headed towards the galley, "You need to hear this."

Katie followed Miguel to the galley as he filled her in on the message from Lucas' father and he and Tim's trip to Ben's room and the tickets that Ben quickly produced from his desk drawer. Katie was shocked. It turned out Ben hadn't just abandoned her. He had actually been planning on recreating their first date. She smiled as Miguel continued to explain that he, Tim, Ben and Commander Ford had all cancelled their own plans to stay behind and have a Thanksgiving celebration on the Seaquest. As they entered the Mess hall Katie could see Tim attempting to hang a string of fall leaves over a table decorated with a rather festive turkey themed table cloth. It made her smile to think of the four men giving up time with their family to keep their young friend from being alone on the holiday. She knew then exactly what she had to do. She walked over to the groceries and picked up the now thawing Turkey and lifted it up as she spoke.

"Either of you boys knows what to do with this?"

Both men looked at her and shrugged.

"Not exactly.", Tim added.

Katie smiled, "Hand me that pan would you Miguel?"

"Sure Katie, but what about your flight?"

"Like I said Migs, I want to spend thanks giving with my family.", Katie winked as Ortiz handed her the pan trying to hide his relief that he wouldn't have to tackle cooking the Thanksgiving bird.

Captain Nathan Bridger smiled as he watched the slender form of Dr. Kristen Wesphalen preparing a feast in his small kitchen. They had planned this getaway for months. He had been looking forward to spending some time alone with the Doctor. The only two who knew where they are and that they were together are Lucas and Lt. Commander Hitchcock. Jonathon Ford was going to see his father and brother for the holiday so Katie was going to be the nearest commanding officer to Seaquest therefore she needed to be informed of the Captain's whereabouts. Nathan also had spoken to Lucas about what was going on between the doctor and himself he had no intentions of making the boy uncomfortable while the Kristen and he explored their budding relationship.

"Smells wonderful.", The Captain said as he stood behind Kristen wrapping his arms around her waist, "I thought you said there wasn't a Thanksgiving in England? You seem to have a good grasp on the concept."

"Thank you.", She replied,"And no, there isn't a Thanksgiving in England but, there is a Harvest Day, and I have seen the Peanut's Thanksgiving special a few times."

Nathan smiled as he looked over the feast being prepared.

"You do know it's just the two of us right?"

"Of course but, I thought we could pack up the left overs and take them to a shelter or something. You know in the spirit of giving and all that."

"You know that's one of my favorite things about you. You are so willing to give.", Nathan pulled Kristen in for a kiss. This was indeed going to be a happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving morning Ben Krieg woke up early and headed straight to the mess. He was curious about how everything was coming for the dinner that night. He had pulled some strings to get a real turkey, yams, and cranberry sauce along with all the other trimmings.

"How's it coming Tim?" Ben asked entering the mess hall.

"Not sure, Ben you'd have to check with the chef."

"Well where is ol' Migs?"

"Still sleeping." Came the familiar female voice from the galley doorway.

"Katie? What are you doing here?", Ben asked his mouth agape with shock.

"Close your mouth Ben, you're catching flies. Miguel told me about the tickets to the ball game and what you did for Lucas. Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Well, I figured it was more believable that I had just screwed up again than trying to explain that I was dumping you to take a 16 year old kid to a ball game.", Ben replied blushing at the smile he was getting from his ex-wife.

Katie winked and drew closer to her ex-husband, "We'll talk about this later, Ben, but I am very pleased with what you've done for Lucas. Maybe you have matured."

Ben stumbled over his own two feet as he backed away from Katie to head towards his cabin before picking up Lucas to go to the game.

"Ready Kid?", Ben asked walking in to Lucas' room.

"Sure, and I'm not a kid." Lucas quipped.

"Well then, Old chap, Let's head out."

Commander Jonathan Ford sat on the bridge talking to Lt. Commander Katie Hitchcock.

"So how's the turkey coming Katie?"

"Well, It's in the oven now, I've never actually prepared a Turkey before but, I thought I could at least get it cooked without burning Seaquest down to the waterline."

The pair laughed and Jonathon added. "You know once my father tried to cook Thanksgiving dinner for my brother and I. He was so proud he'd stuffed the bird with cornbread dressing and managed to make all the trimming without burning down the house. Well, about an hour in to cooking the bird our kitchen filled with smoke and the neighbors called the fire department."

"Oh my god, what happened?", Katie laughed.

"Well, inside the turkey there was a little plastic bag with all of the gizzards and things inside of it. My father didn't know about it and just put the stuffing on the top of it. The heat made this bag expand and it basically exploded in our oven. My brother and I never let our old man live it down." Jonathan was too busy laughing to notice the concerned look on Katie's face.

"There's a bag inside of the turkey?", Katie swallowed hard as she asked.

"Katie," Jonathan's eyes grew large as he continued, "Please tell me you took the bag out of the Turkey?"

Just then the Lt. Commander's PAL chirped.

"Uh, Katie?", came the voice of Tim.

"Yes?", Katie asked cringing inwardly.

"I think you better come down here. There's something wrong with your Turkey."

"On our way Tim."

Jonathan looked at Katie's furrowed brow, "Katie you didn't?"

"Well Jonathon, apparently I did."

Kristen sat on the porch of Bridger's cabin sipping coffee and watching as Nathan played with Darwin on the dock. She smiled sweetly as she thought of the night before. She and Nathan had stayed up talking and getting to know each other on a more personal level. Kristen now knew where she stood in the heart of the captain and was relieved to hear that the feelings she had been harboring were mutual. She was startled from her thoughts as the vid-phone begun to ring. As she sat to answer the link Nathan walked in having heard the ringing from out on the dock. Kristen motioned for Nathan to join her as the UEO logo flashed on the screen. The pair was greeted by Commander Jonathon Ford and Lt. Commander Hitchcock both looking rather worried about something.

"Jonathon? What are you doing on Seaquest? Is something wrong?" The captain asked with Alarm apparent in his voice.

"Well sir, It's a long story" Commander Ford sighed as he begun to relay the entire tale beginning with the message from Lucas' father and ending with the now burnt Turkey they were now faced with."….I know there's nothing you can do about it all sir. Katie just thought the doctor may know of some way to save what was left of the turkey and I thought you should know that Lucas was here."

"Thank you Commander, thank all of you, for everything you've done. Give us a few minutes and we'll try to figure something out.", With that Nathan cut the link.

"Damn that inconsiderate no good…" Kristen cut Nathan off in the midst of his rant.

"Now Nathan, let's focus on the positive. The crew has done a wonderful thing for Lucas. Yes, he does have a horrid father, but he has a wonderful family with us on the Seaquest."

"True", Nathan smiled. "What's say you and me pack all this up and spend Thanksgiving with our family?"

Kristen smiled as she and Nathan sprung in to action.

Ben and Lucas arrived back on Seaquest just after dark. The Dolphins had lost but the game had been a lot of fun.

"I'm telling you, I could of taken them.", Ben spoke as he and Lucas walked to the mess hall to investigate how dinner was coming.

"Taken them where Ben? To the movies? They didn't seem very fond of you."

"You know what I mean, kid. If that cap hadn't shown up when he did I would of…"

"If that cop hadn't of shown up you and I would be spending Thanksgiving in the ER and I would call the doc personally and tell her…"

"Tell me what?" Kristen interrupted looking at the pair as they entered the galley.

"Doc!", Lucas called out as he gave Kristen a hug, "What are you doing here?"

Kristen smiled as she released the boy and Nathan came up behind her.

"Well, we decided that we wanted to spend Thanksgiving with our family." Kristen said as she motioned to the table where Tim, Katie, Jonathan, and Miguel were already seated.

"Besides," Nathan added," someone blew up the Turkey."

Katie blushed and everyone laughed. Lucas smiled as he looked around the table. This Thanksgiving hadn't gone as planned but, it was the best one he could ever remember.

Happy Thanksgiving!


End file.
